Arizona State Sun Devils

Sendek: Depth, free throws concerns for ASU

There’s very little doubt that the 2012-13 version of the Arizona State men’s basketball team is better than the version that was marched out on the court during the two previous seasons.

ASU is off to a 9-2 start, and as promised, has played a more entertaining, up-tempo brand of basketball. Herb Sendek’s Sun Devils are averaging 75.5 points per game, up from the 61 points per contest they posted a year ago.

With only two games remaining until the beginning of conference play, Sendek does have concerns about his team, with depth being one of them. Only seven players are currently averaging ten or more minutes of playing time. Four of ASU’s five starters are averaging more than 30 minutes per game and the Sun Devils are getting only 6.3 points from their bench over the last three contests.

“Moving forward, it would be great to get at least one more guy involved in that rotation,” Sendek told Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 620 Tuesday. “That’s something we’d love to be able to do.”

But who will it be? Senior point guard Chris Colvin was the early-season spark plug, averaging 10.8 points off the bench in Arizona State’s first four contests. But Colvin’s production has tailed off since then; he’s averaging just 3.4 points while shooting .307 from the field in the last seven games.